Devils snap 10-game skid at Flyers' expense

Philadelphia Flyers' Ilya Bryzgalov (30), of Russia, deflects a shot as New Jersey Devils' Steve Bernier (18) looks for the rebound in the first period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, April 18, 2013, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA — Marty Brodeur has had plenty of games against the Flyers in his long career as a prime-time Devil, and lots of them were just as devoid of entertainment as Thursday night’s dump-and-defend borefest at Wells Fargo Center.

Just like the old days, Brodeur’s biggest battle during the game was his personal fight to stay awake, as his Devils teammates locked, blocked and rocked the Flyers, 3-0. That puts the Flyers’ magic number at 2 - two more points by the Rangers or Winnipeg, and any other flops by the Flyers and their non-playoff expiration will have become official.

As it was, everybody knew coming in that for the first time in ... well, ever ... the Flyers and the Devils appeared to be headed together for early springs. To match that state of competitive inertia, the game was about 25 minutes old and essentially nothing had happened.

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Eventually, the Devils would rectify that with goals by Ryan Carter and Matt D’Agostini before Adam Henrique’s empty-net nail with 1:13 left sent all 2,000 or so fans remaining streaming for the Xfinity Live doors. Thank heavens this organization’s marketing department is still working hard.

For yuks, every Flyers fan should know that coming into this game, the Devils had lost 10 games in a row. Yes, the defending Eastern Conference champion Devils who knocked the Flyers out of the playoffs.

What a difference a short year makes. ... Or not.

Dating to Game 2 of that series last spring, the Devils are 8-1 against the Flyers and have outscored them 32-14 in those nine games. They’ve always outbored them.

“The second and third period, they totally took over the game. It was almost like men playing with kids,” Scott Hartnell said. “We lost pretty much every battle. When you do that you’re not going to win games. It’s nowhere but up right now.”

Actually, after another four games, it’ll be nowhere but out for at least several of these Flyers who underachieved so well this short and not-so-sweet season. It’ll be the first since 2006-07 that the Flyers won’t make the playoffs.

“It’s never fun,” Hartnell said. “First time in a long time for Philadelphia and myself to be eliminated, and not by your own doing. It sucks.”

As consolation, the team from up the turnpike that torments them so much probably won’t make the playoffs, either. But at least they still have a fighting chance.

As for Brodeur-vs.-Philly, nothing much changes. The 40-year-old goalie scored his 11th career shutout against the Flyers. He has more shutouts against them than any other team, and he has more shutouts against them than any other goalie. Brodeur, the prototypical Devil, had been stuck during his team’s 0-6-4 backslide on 666 career victories.

Cue the crazies.

But there was nothing weird about this game. There was a lot of nothing everywhere.

What was a relatively even, uneventual and uninteresting game took a turn in the second period, however, when the Flyers took off toward Brodeur on a 3-on-1 break. But along the way, Matt Read appeared to have some sort of brain cramp.

He stickhandled into the Devils zone, had easy chances to pass or shoot ... and did neither.

A blink of the eye later, Simon Gagne came upon the puck in the neutral zone, and he also hesitated before shoveling a quick pass toward Erik Gustafsson. But Stephen Gionta knocked it astray and got it to Ryan Carter, who promptly put a shot off the top part of Ilya Bryzgalov’s stick and into the net at 5:36 for a 1-0 Devils lead.

And after that ... not much happened again.

“I think the biggest problem is we don’t know how to play a patient game,” Danny Briere said. “The last three years we’ve struggled against the Devils because they’re patient. They wait for their chances.”

One thing that did was a Jakub Voracek goal, coming at 9:04 of the second period. It lasted for one short cheer until a replay confirmed that Voracek not only kicked it in, but hit it like David Akers.

As far as actually scoring by putting a stick on a puck, two Flyers power plays didn’t yield anything close to that. And everyone knows this team doesn’t know how to score in even-strength situations.

Maybe the closest they came on this night was when Claude Giroux had the puck alone at the top of the slot. But he, too, took too long to shoot. And when he finally did Brodeur easily swallowed the shot.

Shortly thereafter, a Flyers turnover led to the D’Agostini goal ... and all was almost lost for the Flyers.